Viewed from the safety of great distance aerial dog fights of the Great War could seem like light entertainments. One hundred years ago this week Sydney's The World's News reported that "An English lady, engaged in field ambulance work at the front, gives a stirring account of an aeroplane fight.
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" 'Yesterday,' she writes, 'I had a wonderful view of one of the most interesting sights I have seen since the war began, namely, an aeroplane fight.
" 'It was a gorgeous, brilliant day, just the day for flights. Suddenly we heard great shouts from the troops, and realised that something really exciting was happening, so we rushed out and saw against the lovely blue sky two aeroplanes – a German and an Ally. They seemed at the moment almost locked in mid-air, circling round, and round in the most curious fashion, and yet both looked so harmless and lovely against the sunny sky.
" 'The flights were wonderful, and they were both first-class aeronauts. Suddenly the Ally did a wonderful climb higher and higher above the German. It looked as if the Ally was about 200 yards higher up, and he evidently had a much faster machine. He soon gained on the German, and then, to our surprise, he seemed just to let himself go, and swept down at a marvellous angle and a terrific pace right at the German. Evidently his object was to break a wing with his ground wheels, but, unluckily, he just missed the German – it looked to us by inches'."